white91bird

i had my car(91 firebird 305 tbi) from the shop for 1 day after getting it inspected, drove it to work, just 5 miles and after work was taking it to a body shop, halfway onthe about the 20 mile trip it shut off and wouldnt start it just made lots of clicking noises and the dome light flashed, after pushing it into a gas station it got a friend to come give me a jump start, it started up then when i shifted into drive it cut off again my friend said there were spark coming from the alternator (ouch, i didnt see it cause i was in the car), did this 2 more times then called a tow truck
anybody know what the trouble is? it is currently back at the shop im getting my tranny rebuilt anyway, the shop said they are gonna put in a new alt. but i wanna find out from you guys

Toxinz

sparks commin out from the altenator eh. Sounds to me like you have a bad altenator or you have a torque converter lockup problem. Most likely the atenator 99% sure. The question is why is their sparks comming out from the altenator? Ive never seen an altenator shoot sparks out from failing. You might want to make sure all the connections on the back of the altenator are connected before testing the output of it. Also make sure you have a complete circuit from the battery to the altenator.

white91bird

what i dont get is why would it start from a jump start then shut off when shifted to drive
my friend said the sparks were not large just enough to see a small blue flicker

how much $ you think im looking at here if its the torque converter
i need to get everything figuerd out and fixed before i attempt to drive it 200 miles to the beach this june

Toxinz

lets say your altenator is making 0 volts and your battery is bone dead. When your friend goes to put the jumpers on the battery your car prob has around 13 or 14 volts Like a alive battery should have. Now you start the car and walla it starts then your friend sees you about to put it in drive and takes off the jumpers and since you alt is making 0 power and you battery is very low your car dies instanly and when you try to start it again all you hear is a clicking noise. what did you jump the car with and how long did you leave it on. If it were your torque converter lockup your car would start in park untill you put it in drive. You would be able to start it over and over again.

white91bird

after it started i left it sit running for about 5 minutes before trying to shift it to drive the first time then about 10 minutes the second time
we jumped it with a toyota supra, then a cavalier the last 2 times
maybe it was that import blood getting in it lol

so, your saying its a combination of all 3 things?...low battery, bad alt. and torque converter lock up?

Toxinz

im not saying it is a combination of anything. What you need to do is take everything into account. Did the car quit while slowing down or did it quit while you were at a steady pace. For the 10 or so minutes it was running were the jumpers still attached. When you go to shift into drive are the cables still attached. Already we have figured out that the sparks comming from alt are little pulses of electicty much like when you look at he motor from an electic drill. We need to know exactly what is happening. All we can do is give an educated guess based on the discription of what is happening and give advise to how to figure out the problem. In your situation i would pull out the volt meter and see what are charging system is doing and also test the battery. If it was your torque conver lockup up your battery would still be alive and be able to start the car without the need for a jumpstart. Unless you turned the car on and off a ton of times trying to get it to move.

white91bird

it shut off while i was slowing for a red light
the first time we jumped it we took the cables off as soon as we got it started
the second time we took the cables off right when we started it and let it run for 5 minutes
the last time we left the cables on with both cars running for about 10 minutes and took the cables off before i tried to shift
when it was at the shop for inspection they said the battery died somehow and they had to charge it, it has a optima red top btw
by the way thanks for all the help ahead of time

Toxinz

okay here are the three things you need to check 1 charging system 2 battery 3 lock up soleniod. By the sound of it their is a high probability that the soleniod has gone bad. Its an easy fix (drop the trans pan and replace the sensor).
Dont know how much it will cost though. But like i said check the charging system and battery first.
We all love thirdgens and are always willing to help.